Jason Kelce already offered to help Eagles 6th rounder Dylan McMahon

When Dylan McMahon arrived at the NovaCare complex last Thursday, he went to the Eagles’ weight room to meet with general manager Howie Roseman, who quickly introduced him to Jason Kelce.

Kelce looked at McMahon and said, “Undersized center?

Yeah. Undersized center. Athletic outlook. Sixth round draft pick.

Looks familiar?

While the Eagles believe they have their center of the future in Cam Jurgens, they still selected McMahon in the sixth round out of NC State in the 2024 draft.

And the comparisons between McMahon and Kelce were pretty inevitable. Even though Kelce’s post-football life appears to be pretty busy — Kelce has reportedly joined ESPN’s Monday Night Football pregame coverage — he’s still willing to put in the time to help the team’s new sixth-round center prospect. Eagles.

“We have that in common,” McMahon said. “And I just talked a little bit about football and the guys I’m going to face regularly in our division. He told me to stay in the weight room. You can put a good amount of weight on yourself with your figure and body. There are places to gain weight, weight and muscle.

“I just wished myself good luck. Like I said, it was quite surreal meeting him. He said he hoped to help me in any way he could. So it will be pretty cool.

The Eagles held their rookie minicamp last weekend, so it was McMahon (6-3, 299)’s first chance to get a taste of life in the NFL. But it was pretty cool for him to meet Kelce the day before we started.

Because for McMahon, there is no one better to look up to than Kelce. The recently retired Eagles legend is the perfect role model for a generation of undersized sports centers. And now McMahon is going to learn directly from Kelce…at least here and there.

“I don’t want to bother him. I would do it every day if I could,” McMahon said. “But he has his own things. He gave me his number. If I ever have a question or anything, I can ask him. If he doesn’t respond, because I know there’s a lot going on, I hope he eventually does. As much as I can without disturbing him, of course.

Most of McMahon’s lessons will come from offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who is a legend in his own right. But it’s pretty cool to have Kelce on the phone or text.

Of course, McMahon learned from Kelce long before their meeting last week. When Kelce was drafted in the sixth round of 2011, there weren’t as many examples of small centers succeeding in the NFL. Now it seems like whenever an undersized center is drafted, the first guy mentioned is always Kelce.

So it’s no surprise that McMahon has been studying Kelce’s tape for years and there is one important thing to remember.

“I would just say leverage,” McMahon said. “I would say size is a big comparison. The sheer leverage he plays with in the game as a smaller player is something I also want to incorporate into my game. I tend to play a little high sometimes. Just being able to use the leverage that he uses and distribute it to my game, I think, will be a huge bonus in my game.”

In 2011, the Eagles took Kelce with the 191st overall pick. McMahon this year was the No. 190 pick.

McMahon said that beyond being able to learn from Kelce, it’s heartening to see Kelce’s success as a late-round draft pick. It may still be unlikely that McMahon will make it in the NFL, but many of the Day 3 guys already have.

One former late-round pick in particular will be watching closely.

“Of course, I can’t wait to see what this kid does,” Kelce said on the New Heights podcast. “And I’m sure Stout is excited to have some new guys in the room and some new young guys to really try to shape up. I always love it when new ones arrive. I mean, let’s be honest. No sixth-round center will make it. Especially not the Eagles.